Nathan Young
Nathan Young was a member of the original Misfits gang. A born clown with an irritating, flippant attitude towards life and others, Nathan gained the power of Immortality after the Storm, which he discovered months after when he temporarily died facing against the brainwashed Virtue organisation. After falling for single mother Marnie, he sold his immortality to Seth only to buy the power of Magic, which he used to try to win millions at casino at Las Vegas, though this only resulted in him being incarcerated in an American prison. He was portrayed by Robert Sheehan in the first two series of Misfits. Biography Early Life Nathan was born on March 15th 1989 (as seen in his memorial-video made by Simon) and grew up in Ireland, largely raised by his mother Louise as his father Mike was very distant. He was raised as a Catholic (among child-molesting priests, so he claims). It seems that Mike also got another woman pregnant at around this time, leading to the birth of Nathan's half-brother Jamie, although Mike chose to stay with Louise and Nathan rather than Jamie and his mother. Eventually, however, Mike left them as well and remained a shadowy figure in his son's life - even leaving Nathan by himself for three hours after 'treating' him to a birthday visit to Ikea. Nathan was looked after by a paedophile but found before he could be hurt,his father subsequently forgot all about this awful mistake. According to Nathan, he had his first sexual experience with one of his mother's friends during a camping trip, who gave him a handjob while he slept. While out with some friends (who, it is implied, don't particularly like him much), Nathan stole some pick 'n' mix sweets and soft drinks from a bowling alley. He subsequently aggravated the manager Beverly Morgan to the point that the police were called; this is the reason he is doing community service. During the event, his father Mike was summoned to help, but due to his own bitterness towards his father he elected to have the police over rather than have his father pay for the damage he'd caused. Series 1 At the start of his community service, Nathan quickly proved to be a nuisance to his fellow probationers, picking on them at every turn, especially Simon. Upon the gang's discovery of their individual powers following the Storm, Nathan was disappointed to have appeared unchanged and is seen numerous times trying to figure out what his power might be. His lack of tact got the better of him as it caused his mother to throw him out of the house, choosing her boyfriend Jeremy over her own son. With nowhere to go, Nathan took up residence inside the Community Center. During his community service, Nathan discovered Jeremy, naked and assuming animalistic behaviours, being hit by the storm. He used this as an opportunity to defame Jeremy, but was shocked to discover that his mother was already aware of Jeremy's condition and accepting of him. With one insensitive remark, Nathan received a slap from his mother and recoiled to the flat of Ruth, an attractive young women he met at the community center. During sex, Ruth briefly reverted to the visage of an elderly woman to Nathan's disgust. Ruth explained him that the storm made her young again and that her power was slowly fading. Despite her plea, Nathan left abruptly and Ruth died the next day of old age. Ruth's lonely death made Nathan realize his wrongdoings. Not wanting his mother to age and die alone, Nathan made amends with her and decided to not return home at his own admission. Nathan's relationship with the others on community service is mainly antagonistic, all of them finding his personality annoying. However, he does manage a friendly relationship with Kelly on the hopes they'll shag which she decides against which Nathan is very disappointed by. Also, he picks out Simon as a target, and continually calls him "Barry" since he couldn't remember his name, despite Nathan's constant ridicule, Simon and Nathan are shown to be friends with Nathan often giving the more naive Simon tips on how to get girls. In Episode 7 Nathan meets Marnie, a single mother with a similarly flippant attitude. The two strike up a sexual relationship but Nathan quickly becomes more and more enthused about the idea of being a father to her child (she has no idea who the biological father is). He and the other Misfits eventually help her give birth. Afterwards, similiarly to the birth of baby Jesus Marnie and the Mistfits begin to sing "Little Donkey" and share a touching moment near the manger. This moment is slightly ruined when Marnie begins to panic thinking she is going into labor again and Nathan pulls out and stomps all over what he claims to be an "alien baby" spraying everyone with blood. It turns out to be just the afterbirth, which he sheepishly replies with "Merry Christmas one and all!" Later on Nathan takes Marnie and her new born baby (Nathan Jr) to Las Vegas. He is arrested after trying to scam a casino, and is forced to stay in Vegas. He uses his one phone call to phone Simon, but Rudy answers the phone and doesn't know who Nathan is so hangs up. Nathan is last seen being dragged away by the police shouting "Save me, Barry!" (Vegas Baby!) Powers Immortality Like the rest of the misfits, Nathan's power reflects an aspect of his personality: his apparent imperviousness to hurtful comments manifests in immortality - he literally cannot die by any means. Once he reaches the point of death, he regenerates from any and all injuries, often returning to life almost immediately. When non-fatally injured, he heals at a normal human rate; however, those injuries will rapidly heal the next time he dies. This ability seems to be subconscious, since he has died on numerous occasions only to walk away unscathed afterwards. He has recovered from being shot, stabbed, and beaten to death. His body will never rot, age or truly grow old. As a result, he will stay young basically forever. While the rest of the Misfits discover their powers on the day after the storm, Nathan's doesn't surface until he is killed after falling from a rooftop and being impaled. He regains consciousness after his funeral, only to find that he is trapped inside his coffin underground, with just his iPod that Kelly had placed next to him at his funeral. Shortly after his burial the group receive a message from 'Superhoodie' telling them to visit Nathan's grave, while standing by his grave, Kelly hears Nathan thinking (while having a wank) and realizes he is still alive. The gang dig him up and although he is still at first and appears not to be moving, Nathan eventually jumps up and declares he's immortal. His power is hinted at in Episode Four though. In this episode, Curtis accidentally creates an alternate timeline in which Tony murdered the misfits - except for Nathan who was 'half dead' when paramedics found him. The fact that his wounds are not fully healed suggests that he didn't die completely (and thus begin the regenerative process) before he was rescued. Nathan's resurrection didn't go down well with his family - his mother fainted (and, if Nathan is to be believed, hurt her face badly) after he arrived at her door unannounced; and his father was furious after Nathan claimed that his death had just been an insurance scam. Mediumship After the accident caused by Lilys' reversed power she was presumed dead while Jamie appeared to be okay. Jamie tries to convince Nathan to go see their father and make amends, Nathan does only to discover that Jamie is only an apparition as he died with Lily. He also sees Ollie after his death, apologizing that he was shot. Nathan also see's Kelly's ghost in S01E06. Magic With his new powers, Nathan travelled to Las Vegas with Marnie and Nathan Jr. He was able to conjure a red tulip for Marnie, and ended up going to jail for creating a die with the number seven on it. (he did not know that it was not possible to roll a seven on a die as is shown in his shock when he finds out and is chased). Immortality.png|Nathan's original power of Immortality Dead brother.jpg|Nathan's power of Immortality extended to Mediumship TklK60iUX2bXXzn6pM40c.jpg|Nathan's current power of Reality Warping Relationship with the Misfits Kelly Nathan's relationship with the other misfits is initially purely antagonistic, through a mutual attraction between him and Kelly lead to a brief romantic fling which she calls off as she sees him as more of a cousin than a boyfriend and tells Nathan that she just wants to be mates. Nevertheless he still maintains a friendship, Nathan clearly cares deeply about Kelly and she returns the feeling. Simon Nathan's relationship with Simon also improves as the series progresses. Having identified him as the outcast, Nathan initially bullies Simon relentlessly, referring to him using insults such as 'weird kid' and 'panty sniffer,' among others. The two grow closer in the second season, as Nathan reveals the kinder side of his personality. After Simon finally stands up for himself, recounting all of the hurtful remarks Nathan has aimed at him and concluding that in spite of it all he, "just wants to be friends," Nathan seems to acquire a measure of respect for him. After this encounter Nathan begins looking out for Simon in his own way (such as suggesting hiring him a prostitute to "get his confidence up") and Simon in return begins laughing more freely at his jokes and even attempting (though often failing) to replicate them. Nathan also seems to have developed an odd friendship with him, as he admits to Alisha that he likes Simon, attempts to protect him from Jessica, and enthusiastically congratulates Simon for losing his virginity. Three months later, after Simon has gained more confidence, Nathan comments jokingly that he preferred him when he "suffered from a crippling shyness." Alisha Nathan's relationship with Alisha is a changing one. Nathan's crass jokes and offensive comments usually make Alisha laugh, and in most cases they work well together. Despite this, Alisha denies being his friend on multiple occasions. When Nathan dies for the first time (before he and the others know he is immortal) Alisha seems to be the least affected, though she is willing to comfort the distraught Kelly. Curtis Curtis seems to dislike Nathan and often calls him a prick. Nathan likes winding Curtis up about his misfortune of getting caught and his career being in tatters. Despite this Curtis seemed honestly sad about Nathan's death and sometimes gets along with him. When faced with having to break up with his girlfriend Curtis goes to Nathan for advice on how to end the relationship. The advice he gives Curtis is terrible, but Curtis uses it anyways, possibly displaying some level of misguided faith in Nathan's relationship skills. The fact that Curtis goes to Nathan for advice in the first place shows that he may trust Nathan more than he lets on. Rudy Nathan's relationship with Rudy is not known as he has never seen or spoken to him in person but has talked to him over Simon's phone once when Simon wasn't around. He referred to Simon as Barry so Rudy didn't recognize the name and hung up on him when Nathan called him from jail in Las Vegas. Rudy didn't seem to really care that Nathan sounded like he was in trouble, and hung up almost immediately. However this was most likely not personal due to Rudy's habit of not caring about things that don't affect him, hence his ability. Appearance Nathan's outfits consist of a casual range of clothes each dark in colour. One notable piece of clothing is his black Harrington Jacket, usually worn over several graphic t-shirts. He usually wears skinny jeans, (black or denim) and wears simple burgandy, teal or grey t-shirts. He wears black and grey converses as shoes and always wears a metal necklace around his neck. Occasionally he will wear an open shirt over a t-shirt, or a dark hoodie. He is also seen wearing jumpers and cardigans throughout the series. Like the others, Nathan's community service jumpsuit has the words 'COMMUNITY PAYBACK' printed at the back, though Nathan had the word 'PAY" drawn over and replaced with "BLOW". Nathan has several tattoos, two simple black star outlines on the inside and outside of his wrist, three stars of the similar style on his hip, a crest pattern of some sort under his arm, and a swallow bird on his back. In Vegas, Nathan shortened his curly hair and sported a goatee. Casting and character creation Casting for the part was announced on 17 August 2009 by Digital Spy. Fellow cast member Iwan Rheon revealed that Overman who created the character discussed how to write their parts with the cast and later began writing for them as actors. Misfit's executive producer Petra Fried announced Robert Sheehan's decision to leave at the Kapow convention in London on 10 April 2011 and his departure was dealt with in an online spinoff, which aired on 15 September 2011. The spinoff was called Vegas Baby! and saw Nathan depart. On his decision to leave Sheehan said "It's nice that the show's successful but it doesn't mean complete blind and unadmonished loyalty - 'If something is very successful you should stick to it like a barnacle!' That's definitely not my thinking. I think I've made the right decision, yeah". On a possible return Sheehan said "There's no point in saying never. It holds a very fond little place in my heart. No, it's been a great big part of my life and there's no point in turning your back on something completely. I'm not doing that, I would never say never". Reception Sheehan was nominated for a BAFTA for his portrayal of Nathan but lost out to Martin Freeman who stars in Sherlock. Sheehan was nominated for Outstanding Actor in the fiction category at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2011. The Herald described him as a "curly haired Irish smart alec called Nathan (Robert Sheehan), to whom writer Howard Overman has given all the best lines". The Guardian also commented that "So far his only power seems to be the gift of incessant back-chat. Played by Robert Sheehan, he's the breakout star of the show". Boxcutters commented negatively on the characters of Misfits saying it was "filled with unattractive and very annoying characters" although they responded positively to the show asking "why do we find it so strangely compelling?" The Times commented that "Despite his fervent hopes, the cheeky, tousle-haired Irish boy cannot fly; indeed we do not know what his superpower is yet". The Daily Telegraph describes him as "Motormouth Nathan was the pivot here, prodding, challenging and provoking the others into revealing themselves". The Independent responded to the character saying he was "clearly the most quotable of the quintet" and after Nathan decides to join the circus so he can be repeatedly killed they added "Quite right: who'd really get all superhero-ish just because they've got some powers?" The Metro described him as a "cult hero". MSN News described Nathan saying he was "undoubtedly the star of the show". The Guardian described Sheehan as the "leading light of E4's Asbo superheroes drama", describing him as a "cocky motormouth" before questioning "Can Misfits survive without Nathan?" After the character's exit was confirmed, Digital Spy commented that he was "much-loved". Keith Watson of the Metro commented positively on his exit saying "rather than dismiss this key character with a couple of lines of mumbled dialogue, his farewell is deftly handled in an online mini-drama all of his own" saying his time on the show was spent "bemoaning being short-changed in the superpower department – finally cashes in the chips on his shoulder" before adding "he’s going to leave a Misfits-shaped hole in my heart". Neela Debnath of the Independent spoke of Sheehan's departure upon the beginning of the third series saying the absence of Nathan, who she described as "universally popular and well-liked", was the "starkest" difference in the series. Debnath expressed that although for a large number of people Nathan was "the most entertaining character on the show" because of his "schoolboy humour and penchant for annoying everyone but the audience" his departure did not detract from the quality of the show. The Guardian branded Nathan their "favourite cocky yet lovable and immortal character" but after Rudy's entrance questioned "As for that void after Nathan left? Well… Nathan who?" Trivia *Nathan's date of birth was confirmed on the video Simon made for Kelly in Episode 6 (Series 1). The full video can be found on the article Online Films. He would be 21 years old by the end of tenure, having had a birthday during Series 2 *Nathan's original power reflects how he thinks he is the best and everyone else's insults seem to bounce right off him, making him almost 'invincible' to their comments. It also reflects his "I'm going to live forever" attitude. *In one of the early episodes in Series 1, when Curtis changes the events that previously happened, Nathan's power was given away when Curtis goes to the other Misfit's memorial outside the community centre and Nathan tells Curtis that he was the only survivor, and that he was 'half dead the time they found him', hinting at his immortality. *Out of the three original main males, Nathan is the only one to never have been affected by Alisha's original power. *Nathan has had four powers up to date Immortality, Mediumship, Enhanced Mortality and Magic. *It is possible that Sheehan was preparing for his role in season of the witch during 'Vegas Baby!' and that is why he has a goatee and shorter hair. *Nathan has only ever met Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and Simon, however he did briefly speak to Rudy on the phone in Vegas Baby!. *Due to Nathan's power of Magic being shown to hold all sorts of possibliltes, it is likely that he might have been able to use his power to escape from prison. *While not confirmed, it is possible that Nathan still has the power of mediumship, as it may have been caused by his death instead of his power being invested. Appearances Episodes Other ''Simon's Series 1 Films'' *"Stoner" *"Not Aquaman" *"Nathan Tribute" *"Cock Sucker" *"The Fly" *"Stuffy" ''Series 2 Community Centre security footage '' *"Locker Inspection" *"Lock in" *"The Birthday Boy" *"Man Vs Manchine" *"Ready, Steady, Roll!" *"Last Supper" Quotes "Melon-fucker!" "Save me Barry!" "He's like a handsome shark." "Monkey Slut! " "Communal Masturbation. The old circle jerk." “There is only one thing that young girls should be inserting into themselves, and that’s knowledge.’’ External Links * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Misfits_characters#Nathan_Young Wikipedia information * http://twitter.com/#!/nathanmisfits Nathan's Twitter profile * Category:Main Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Series 1 Characters Category:Series 2 Characters Category:Series 3 Characters Category:Community Service Workers Category:Power Buyers Category:Arc Characters Category:Kelly Bailey Category:Simon Bellamy Category:Victims of powers Category:Power Sellers Category:Curtis Donovan